Live every day as if it were your last, for some day you are sure to be right!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

That Thing I Do

So the 'blustery' weather is now gone, and it's a perfect autumn day here in America's Playground. Last night, I got home around 2:30 in the morning, and there was definitely a chill in the air, and a bunch of my neighbors, the ones lucky enough to have fireplaces, had been using them. Who doesn't love the smell of wood smoke on a crisp autumn night? I have to admit, I'm pretty jealous about not having a fireplace. I miss my old in condo in Phoenix that had one--I used it almost every night from October to February, and right now the weather is perfect for it. Hell, I even miss the firepit back at Reuben's house.

Somehow, I'll muddle through without one.

After yesterday's epic post, I had quite the productive day, although, I still haven't put together the dining room table and headboard. I know, it's been over two weeks, but I just didn't get around to it yesterday. I don't know what I'm waiting for. Hell, one of my favorite gals even said she'd be willing to come over and 'make sure it works' as soon as I get the damn thing put together. Tell me again why I haven't done it??? On the other hand, I got so many household chores accomplished on Friday that by the time I finished up, I rewarded my efforts by taking the rest of the afternoon off.

I was pretty bored by about six o'clock that night, so I showered up, put on some good clothes, and headed down to Sunset Station to play a little poker. Their four-of-a-kind promotion goes every day, and the $200 for a straight flush promo ends soon, so I wanted to go down there and take a shot at getting a big hand. It never happened for me, but in the three hours I was there, I made $135 in profit at the 4/8 game. Not too bad. As the night wore on, a bunch of folks left the game at once, leaving it shorthanded, and when we drew for seats at the other tables, I lowcarded everyone, so I was last on the waiting list.

Instead of waiting around for a seat to open up, I decided to cash out and hit the road. It was still fairly early, so I drove over to the M Resort. That place has been my little honey-hole lately, as I've been consistently pulling a hundred bucks or more out of that room every session this past month. Besides that, my fave dealer Sammi was working last night, and that always makes for a good time.

It was a grind at first, but I was playing amazingly well. Seriously, I wish I would've been able to video tape my performance, just so I can watch it when I'm running bad and feeling discouraged. I was a machine! I took some horrendous beats though--Aces cracked three times, Ace-Queen losing to Ace-Jack twice, flopped sets losing to rivered inside straights. You name it, I suffered it! But I was still playing my A-game, and never really dropped below par. It's just tough to get ahead when you take a couple of bad beats.

While I was there, I met another gal named Amy who sat down next to me at the table. We hit it off immediately and it made the entire night that much more enjoyable. Even though I had my A-game going with the cards, I somehow managed not to get her number. That was a rookie mistake, because she's new in town and we had a lot of fun, even making plans to play together again soon. Oh well, I know where to find her, and she knows where to find me, so I'm sure I'll eventually be adding her to my own personal Playtone Galaxy of Stars.

She took a few bad beats, too, losing with pocket Queens twice and pocket Aces once in the span of about 15 minutes. Eventually, the law of averages evened out, and my big hands started holding up, and I got paid off on a couple of nut flushes and full boats. I ended up calling it a night at 2:00 am, giving my 'breakage' to Sammi and cashing out for another $165 profit, giving me a $300 win for the night. That's pretty damn good for a 4-8 limit game, where there's always some jackass staying to the river. But like Dell Paxton said, you gotta keep on playin', no matter with who...

Anyhow, I was completely wiped out when I came home--I'd done an eight-hour shift as a player, and it wears you down. I play a lotta cards, obviously, but I have no idea how those people in the World Series do it for 12+ hours a day, especially with so much money on the line. The pressure has got to be incredible.

But once I got home and crawled into bed, I offered up a silent prayer to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that the poker room wouldn't call. Yeah, I'd love to pick up a shift, and yeah, I'd jump on one if they called, but I was just so damn tired and my brain was completely fried by then. Luckily, my phone remained silent and I got a good solid six hours of sleep.

Today, I've got no plans. This is the first time since I've been in Vegas that I haven't had to work on Halloween, and I'm completely at a loss as to what to do. I have a bucket of candy handy just in case some kids come by the apartment, but after that, who knows? All of my friends are working, and I haven't given a single thought to any kind of costume or even going out. My guess is that I'll end up back in the poker room, trying to score another hundred bucks, and giving away all my leftover candy to the players.

I suppose I could put that damn headboard and dining room table together, just so you guys can stop hearing about it...